Iran condemns terrorist attack in Iraq Samarra City

Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marziyeh Afkham on Thursday strongly condemned "crazy" terrorist attack in Iraq's holy Samarra City which claimed lives of a number of Iraqi citizens and military officers, IRNA reported.

Expressing deep concern over the probability of expansion of such mindless criminal acts by the foreign-backed terrorists, Afkham warned against any type of breaching of the sanctity of the religious centers in that city, especially the holy shrines of the Infallible Imams (P) there.

The Foreign Ministry spokesperson also asked the international society and the concerned world bodies to heed their responsibilities in offering effective support for the Iraqi Government and nation in their restless campaign against terrorism and extremism.

Gunmen attacked several security checkpoints in the Iraqi city of Samarra on Thursday morning, sparking hours of deadly fighting with Iraqi security forces, police officials in Samarra said.

At least 23 people were killed and 33 others were injured in the fighting, health officials there said.

The attackers are suspected to be members of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, (DAESH) an al Qaeda splinter group known by the acronym ISIS, police said.

Samarra is a religiously holy city, about 100 kilometers north of Baghdad.

Iraq has been plagued by terrorist and political violence, some of it fueled by foreign interference, trying to weaken the legal government and partly due to the lingering unrest in neighboring Syria.

Last year was the deadliest in Iraq since 2008, with more than 8,800 people killed, most of them civilians, according to the United Nations.